A long time ago, my friend Bobby told me a story that I still carry with me. I was wishful thinking about living on the beach. He said, “I used to have property that overlooked the water.” I then queried him about what it was like. He replied, “After several years, we didn’t even see the view anymore – until a friend would stop by and say, ‘Wow, what a beautiful view you have.'”
Now, years later, I think I know what he means. Being born and raised in Seattle and living there for 45 years, I stopped looking at the view. It was just there. Something off in the distance that I’d notice now and again – as when Mt. Rainier would seem to float above the horizon on one of those amazing summer days. But I had not noticed the artistry of my surroundings as I do now in Florida.
Here, everything is so different that I must take constant note. The palm trees as they sway in the wind make a very different sound from fir trees. The Atlantic is much calmer than the raging Pacific Ocean, so the waves sound different. As I sit here on the deck this morning, I hear a casual conversation between two songbirds that I’ve never heard before. Pelicans are sweeping inches above the water, looking for breakfast in the river. It is a different world than I had ever known.
But this isn’t a travelogue about Florida and while you should live here. That’s just my thing.
No, the secret is to become a fan of the world around you.
Regardless of whether you’ve lived in the same geographic location forever or hop about, the secret seems to be found in becoming a spectator of your surroundings. I have so long tried to be the master or my domain that I forgot to view it with a new pair of eyes, as if for the first time.
Stop and listen to the birds. Sit for a long spell and become mesmerized by a babbling brook. Relish in a solitary icicle as it succumbs to spring, drop by drop. Ponder the fresh tracks in the snow of an animal on a journey. Exult in the waves as they crash ashore at a secluded coastal beach.
Close your eyes now and then and reopen them with a child’s sense of wonder. Reignite your soul from what you not only see around you, but feel innately with all your senses. Become part of the scenery for just a moment, and magic will occur. You realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you… you are simply a single woven thread in the fabric of our surroundings.
We are simply spectators of the world around us. And we are damned lucky to have that privilege.
— Till Again,
Robb